Podcast 85 - "When I go to Trader Joe’s on Columbus Avenue to buy groceries, I do it to buy guy food, which my beloved cannot buy because she knows it’s not good for me."
I'm going grocery shopping in a few minutes! Trader Joe's is my favorite place. I talked with my husband about it and I finally figured out that I love the younger clientele (I'm an "older person"). I have to go to Albertson's, too, for items Trader Joe's doesn't carry. There I find people my age. Thank you for this charming podcast. I miss my Saturday afternoons lying on the sofa, listening to A Prairie Home Companion (we're in SoCal, so we heard you early). But having this sort of makes up for it. Thank you for so many good times; on the radio, online, and several in person (We especially loved the Greek Theater and Hollywood Bowl!).
Have listened to your stories for many years, entertaining the kids (and their parents) during multiple long car trips with a boxed set of Lake Wobegon cassette tapes. I continue to be delighted by your outlook on life, forward and backwards. Thank you! 💕
Wonderful as always, Mr. Keillor. How profoundly grateful I am that our paths crossed! My resume always notes the five recordings of my poems you made in 2022. For me, that’s the big leagues, although I’m still waiting for that life-changing letter from the New Yorker… You are truly a national treasure. Let’s hope our flailing nation continues to deserve you. I think it may be up to poets, this time around, to save the world.
I think the podcasts that make money are the ones who claim to make your rich through podcasting…that said you and Heather, and Rock and Roll in 500 Songs (so cool)…have you and Heather ever met? She lives near you, sort of of.
You both are about community, sense of places, and context for being human. That said I went the our Joe’s once to return an Amazon order, they were fine.
Yet not the original ‘Joes’ for sure, and nor the original trader either…Cost Plus and Original Joes are SF origin stories for just how Italian SF was, and is, and how much the impact of Asian culture and markets had on “the City.”
Imagine you could get a big chunk of sourdough bread, as long as your hand, scraping out the white stuff, and filled with a slab of hot grilled ground beef, maybe with onions. And all loudly grilled right in front of you! Then imagine that lots of ships would bring in cargo to the many wharfs, and some of that would get lost/misplaced and these crates would end up in another warehouse … at cost-plus. All kinds of cool trinkets, lots of brass and strange food, Ramen by the case, 10 cents, or make an offer for the box!
So I’m glad someone learned the tricks of a trade and helps keep you happy…really important job for sure!
My macaroni server was Mrs. Topolinski. She made the best Mac and cheese ever. When I told my mom, she asked Mrs. T for her recipe. Of course it came in a box with neon orange powdered cheese. Xo
I just upgraded to a founding membership, which I was at the beginning but stopped at some point, for some reason that I don't remember. Thank you Garrison for being such a comfort during these difficult times. I also bought a membership for my brother & reminded him that in the 80's, when I first began listening to your program on the radio, I really enjoyed your wide variety of musical guests. Many of them are gone now and I am thankful that I can still hear them on your old shows. I'm pretty sure there must be radios in Heaven.
I also love TJ’s for the workers who are helpful and different, and I love your letters to us because they always resonate with echoes from a shared past.
Making a good life is unique for everyone. I can relate to both the long walks and the nostalgic foods. Tuna noodle hot dish with a side of grape jelly bread, and I’m ten and all my siblings are with me again.
I like to think I may have been the Cali-Boy who turned you on to Trader Joe's in Gotham, from my comment of April last. You were then complaining about the high price of Wheaties there:
"Oy Garrison! For sure Jack Armstrong is spinning in his sarcophagus! Olympic champion Bruce Jenner was on the Wheaties box not long after his decathlon gold. I am now curious if his more recent iteration, Caitlin, has been honored there. Perhaps, as an erstwhile Wheaties fan, you have seen it?? We see her in person occasionally at our neighborhood Starbucks. I'm guessing she comes over the hill from Malibu to buy big boxes of Trader Joe's cereals that sell for $3.50. They have perfectly good knockoffs of Wheaties and Cheerios that I'm sure are there as "loss-leaders" to keep the customers flocking in. I'm definitely one of those flocking customers! Maybe there is a Trader Joe's somewhere in Manhattan? They were just a SoCal fixture when they started, but they have been expanding. "
PS on Sliders: My wife Angie makes 'em with King's Hawaiian dinner rolls....yummy!!
In just wrote something similar...I am going to focus on what is in front of my eyes unless there is a direct action I can take. I'm not giving away the joy in my life to worry about the Appendix Administration (called this by me because he is not an arsehole...those are useful...but rather because he is an appendix: useless and full of poison). https://preble.substack.com/p/whats-in-front-of-my-eyes?r=davcl
At Trader Joe's, my husband enjoys shopping; it's the only such place, though on trips back to Syracuse (2.5 hours away), he sees why I used to refer to Wegmans as my spiritual home. (It's too big for him, while I can rhapsodize about having an allium section bigger than the entire produce area in other supermarkets. I was part of the email campaign to. bring a Trader Joe's to the capital region, and while it took a while, YAY for them finally coming. Everyone who works there is cheerful and knowledgeable and the other shoppers seem like friends you just haven't met yet. I'm glad you like it too, since I like you.
I'm going grocery shopping in a few minutes! Trader Joe's is my favorite place. I talked with my husband about it and I finally figured out that I love the younger clientele (I'm an "older person"). I have to go to Albertson's, too, for items Trader Joe's doesn't carry. There I find people my age. Thank you for this charming podcast. I miss my Saturday afternoons lying on the sofa, listening to A Prairie Home Companion (we're in SoCal, so we heard you early). But having this sort of makes up for it. Thank you for so many good times; on the radio, online, and several in person (We especially loved the Greek Theater and Hollywood Bowl!).
Have listened to your stories for many years, entertaining the kids (and their parents) during multiple long car trips with a boxed set of Lake Wobegon cassette tapes. I continue to be delighted by your outlook on life, forward and backwards. Thank you! 💕
Wonderful as always, Mr. Keillor. How profoundly grateful I am that our paths crossed! My resume always notes the five recordings of my poems you made in 2022. For me, that’s the big leagues, although I’m still waiting for that life-changing letter from the New Yorker… You are truly a national treasure. Let’s hope our flailing nation continues to deserve you. I think it may be up to poets, this time around, to save the world.
I think the podcasts that make money are the ones who claim to make your rich through podcasting…that said you and Heather, and Rock and Roll in 500 Songs (so cool)…have you and Heather ever met? She lives near you, sort of of.
You both are about community, sense of places, and context for being human. That said I went the our Joe’s once to return an Amazon order, they were fine.
Yet not the original ‘Joes’ for sure, and nor the original trader either…Cost Plus and Original Joes are SF origin stories for just how Italian SF was, and is, and how much the impact of Asian culture and markets had on “the City.”
Imagine you could get a big chunk of sourdough bread, as long as your hand, scraping out the white stuff, and filled with a slab of hot grilled ground beef, maybe with onions. And all loudly grilled right in front of you! Then imagine that lots of ships would bring in cargo to the many wharfs, and some of that would get lost/misplaced and these crates would end up in another warehouse … at cost-plus. All kinds of cool trinkets, lots of brass and strange food, Ramen by the case, 10 cents, or make an offer for the box!
So I’m glad someone learned the tricks of a trade and helps keep you happy…really important job for sure!
My macaroni server was Mrs. Topolinski. She made the best Mac and cheese ever. When I told my mom, she asked Mrs. T for her recipe. Of course it came in a box with neon orange powdered cheese. Xo
Thank you! Your voice and stories ground me.
You, Sir, are a treasure.
I just upgraded to a founding membership, which I was at the beginning but stopped at some point, for some reason that I don't remember. Thank you Garrison for being such a comfort during these difficult times. I also bought a membership for my brother & reminded him that in the 80's, when I first began listening to your program on the radio, I really enjoyed your wide variety of musical guests. Many of them are gone now and I am thankful that I can still hear them on your old shows. I'm pretty sure there must be radios in Heaven.
I also love TJ’s for the workers who are helpful and different, and I love your letters to us because they always resonate with echoes from a shared past.
Making a good life is unique for everyone. I can relate to both the long walks and the nostalgic foods. Tuna noodle hot dish with a side of grape jelly bread, and I’m ten and all my siblings are with me again.
You can buy knock-off White Castles and frozen Mac and Cheese from Trader Joe’s?
Who knew?
Good Morning Mr. Keillor,
I like to think I may have been the Cali-Boy who turned you on to Trader Joe's in Gotham, from my comment of April last. You were then complaining about the high price of Wheaties there:
"Oy Garrison! For sure Jack Armstrong is spinning in his sarcophagus! Olympic champion Bruce Jenner was on the Wheaties box not long after his decathlon gold. I am now curious if his more recent iteration, Caitlin, has been honored there. Perhaps, as an erstwhile Wheaties fan, you have seen it?? We see her in person occasionally at our neighborhood Starbucks. I'm guessing she comes over the hill from Malibu to buy big boxes of Trader Joe's cereals that sell for $3.50. They have perfectly good knockoffs of Wheaties and Cheerios that I'm sure are there as "loss-leaders" to keep the customers flocking in. I'm definitely one of those flocking customers! Maybe there is a Trader Joe's somewhere in Manhattan? They were just a SoCal fixture when they started, but they have been expanding. "
PS on Sliders: My wife Angie makes 'em with King's Hawaiian dinner rolls....yummy!!
Relaxin Rog - Westlake Village, CA
In just wrote something similar...I am going to focus on what is in front of my eyes unless there is a direct action I can take. I'm not giving away the joy in my life to worry about the Appendix Administration (called this by me because he is not an arsehole...those are useful...but rather because he is an appendix: useless and full of poison). https://preble.substack.com/p/whats-in-front-of-my-eyes?r=davcl
A national and world treasure
Man oh man, you and my husband are cut from the same cloth...while I take it all in stride like your wife.
At Trader Joe's, my husband enjoys shopping; it's the only such place, though on trips back to Syracuse (2.5 hours away), he sees why I used to refer to Wegmans as my spiritual home. (It's too big for him, while I can rhapsodize about having an allium section bigger than the entire produce area in other supermarkets. I was part of the email campaign to. bring a Trader Joe's to the capital region, and while it took a while, YAY for them finally coming. Everyone who works there is cheerful and knowledgeable and the other shoppers seem like friends you just haven't met yet. I'm glad you like it too, since I like you.